Tim Weisberg — Inside the Celtics: Cousins out of Celts' price range

Tuesday

Jan 8, 2013 at 12:05 AMJan 8, 2013 at 12:13 AM

There's been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the Boston Celtics acquiring Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins, and with good reason. He's everything the Celtics need right now — a young, athletic center who averages around 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. He's the big help they need in the middle to take the load off Kevin Garnett now, and he's the co-star of the future with point guard Rajon Rondo.

TIM WEISBERG

There's been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the Boston Celtics acquiring Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins, and with good reason. He's everything the Celtics need right now — a young, athletic center who averages around 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. He's the big help they need in the middle to take the load off Kevin Garnett now, and he's the co-star of the future with point guard Rajon Rondo.

It's the perfect acquisition: someone to keep the Celtics in contention this season, and help ignite their often-stagnant offense, while keeping them competitive for years to come. He's a perfect fit (although he's also a perfect fit on just about any team in the league).

There are just two problems: one, the Kings might not want to part with him, and two, the Celtics definitely don't have the pieces necessary to pry him from Sacramento.

There's been a great deal of assumption throughout the NBA that Cousins is available because he's been a problem for the Kings organization. He's been suspended by both the league and the team, and he's been at odds with Sacramento coach Keith Smart. He's viewed as a troublemaker, a head case. But he's also an extremely talented head case.

Over the past couple of weeks, we've heard varying reports about whether or not the Kings were looking to deal Cousins. Marc Stein of ESPN reported that while the Maloof family, who own the Kings, wanted to hang on to Cousins, GM Geoff Petrie wanted to trade him. According to The Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett, Danny Ainge reached out to the Kings to see if they could swing a deal. Other teams, such as the Detroit Pistons, were believed to be interested as well. Comcast Sports Net New England even went so far as to report Sunday night that Cousins would be a Celtic by Monday morning.

Much of the speculation was perpetrated because the Celtics waived Kris Joseph and Jarvis Varnado on Sunday, leading to speculation that Boston was clearing room for a big trade. If they weren't scheming this way, those players' one-year deals would become guaranteed at 5 p.m. Monday and the Celtics would be on the hook for the remainder of their salary.

As it turns out, all the speculation and rumor was just that. Sam Amick of USA Today, who was formerly a beat reporter covering the Kings and is still closely connected to the organization, tweeted on Sunday night, "DeMarcus Cousins is not going to the Celtics. Teams continue to be told that he's not available. That is all."

That tearing sound you hear is the collective heart of Celtics fans breaking in two. But, really, why did they have their hopes so high in the first place? Boston has nothing that would appeal to Sacramento outside of Rajon Rondo, and it would make no sense whatsoever to deal the point guard for whom you're trying to find a running mate.

The common trade scenario bandied about by Boston fans involves some combination of Jeff Green, Courtney Lee, Jason Terry, Jared Sullinger and Avery Bradley. So essentially, if such a trade could be worked, it would amount to Ainge admitting that his entire off-season body of work, outside of re-signing Kevin Garnett, was a mistake and that he needs to press the reset button over a month before we even hit the trade deadline. And it would amount to the Kings being so over Cousins that they'd jettison him out of town for the Celtics' flotsam and jetsam and perhaps a draft pick that would fall in the bottom half of the first round.

Sure, Bradley is a good player, but the Kings have more talented two guards already on the roster. Sullinger is a nice piece for the future, but he's still an unknown quantity and certainly not worth giving up a player of Cousins' caliber. It just doesn't make any sense.

In actuality, the Celtics probably have nothing the Kings could want, and other teams likely wouldn't want to get involved to help the Celts get back in the race. Around the league, I'm sure some franchises are taking great joy that the Celtics are struggling to stay above .500 and hold onto the East's final playoff spot. Ainge may be able to swing a deal for big man help, but not anyone in the upper or even middle echelon of centers or forwards.

But the waiving of Joseph and Vernado does open up two roster spots and frees up some cash for the cap-strapped Celtics, meaning they can pursue some veteran free agent help as the season chugs along. Boston's best hopes to shake things up a bit might just be the waiver wire, and if there's one upside to how poorly they've played this season, at least they'll get a shot at those types of players before Miami can snatch any of them up.

So help is likely on the way, but it's not coming in the form of DeMarcus Cousins, as perfect of a fit as he might have been.

Tim Weisberg covers the Boston Celtics for The Standard-Times. Contact him at timweisberg@hotmail.com

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